Child Protective Services

Child Protective Services (CPS) is an agency of many U.S. state governments that removes children from situations that the CPS case workers deem abusive or unlivable. A first line of defense recommended by anti-CPS activists is for parents to homeschool their children rather than sending them to state schools, since state schooling gives CPS workers an opportunity to pull the children out of class for questioning without the parents' prior knowledge or consent.

It is sometimes proposed that Child Protective Services be abolished, and that its functions of investigating allegations of crimes against minors be handled by regular police officers. In January 2014, Arizona abolished its CPS department and replaced it with a "Child Safety and Family Services" department. In April 2014, Tim Donnelly, candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in California, stated, "If I were in charge of the entire state, I can tell you right now I would abolish CPS, because CPS has become the greatest threat to the very kids it was designed to protect."

Carlos Morales

One of the foremost CPS whistleblowers is Carlos Morales, who criticizes the agency's "corruption, kidnapping, and drugging" of children. The drugging occurs, he says, because group homes for foster children have an incentive to get the children diagnosed with as many disorders as possible, in order to get more funding for taking care of their special needs. Since children removed from their homes may feel despondent, resentful, rebellious, etc. this sets the stage for diagnoses of depression, oppositional defiant disorder, etc.

Morales also criticizes the lack of training of CPS workers, who need only have a bachelor's degree in anything and a couple months of specialized training, rather than any background in child development or forensic science, the latter of which might be useful for determining whether an assault on a child has occurred. He also criticizes the investigatory techniques of CPS workers, who pull children out of class at public schools to interview them, without telling them what agency they work for, and ask them leading questions about alleged sexual touching. Morales and Taryn Harris also operate a podcast, Truth over Comfort.